Assignment history

Inventors

• Bruno Bessette (VoiceAge Corp)
• Redwan Salami (VoiceAge Corp)
• Roch Lefebvre (VoiceAge Corp)

All inventors were employed by VoiceAge Corp at the time of filing. There is no information suggesting their departure within 12 months of filing.

Original assignee

The original assignee is VoiceAge Corp. VoiceAge Corp was a company focused on speech and audio compression technologies, particularly known for its contributions to wideband speech coding standards such as AMR-WB. They shipped products and technologies embodying the claims through licensing their intellectual property for use in various communication systems. VoiceAge Corp was acquired by One Voice Technologies in 2011, which was subsequently acquired by Huawei in 2012.

Assignment timeline

• 2001-06-20 (executed) / recorded 2001-06-20 — Reel 007018/0091

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: BESSETTE, BRUNO, LEFEBVRE, ROCH, SALAMI, REDWAN
  • Assignee: VOICEAGE CORP.
  • Correspondent: VOICEAGE CORP., 750 MCCAFFREY, ST. LAURENT, QUEBEC, H4T 1N1, CANADA
  • Context: Internal reorg (inventors assigning patent rights to their employer)

• 2014-01-23 (executed) / recorded 2014-01-23 — Reel 031023/0890

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: VOICEAGE CORPORATION
  • Assignee: SAINT LAWRENCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
  • Correspondent: BRENTON R. BABCOCK, BABCOCK LAW FIRM, PLLC, 3200 NORTHLINE AVE, SUITE 300, GREENSBORO, NC 27408
  • Context: Transfer-to-asserter

• 2020-06-05 (executed) / recorded 2020-06-05 — Reel 052853/0153

  • Conveyance: Patent Security Agreement
  • Assignor: ACACIA RESEARCH GROUP LLC, AMERICAN VEHICULAR SCIENCES LLC, BONUTTI SKELETAL INNOVATIONS LLC, CELLULAR COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT LLC, INNOVATIVE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES LLC, LIFEPORT SCIENCES LLC, LIMESTONE MEMORY SYSTEMS LLC, MERTON ACQUISITION HOLDCO LLC, MOBILE ENHANCEMENT SOLUTIONS LLC, MONARCH NETWORKING SOLUTIONS LLC, NEXUS DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES LLC, PARTHENON UNIFIED MEMORY ARCHITECTURE LLC, R2 SOLUTIONS LLC, SAINT LAWRENCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC, STINGRAY IP SOLUTIONS LLC, SUPER INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGIES LLC, TELECONFERENCE SYSTEMS LLC, UNIFICATION TECHNOLOGIES LLC
  • Assignee: STARBOARD VALUE INTERMEDIATE FUND LP, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
  • Correspondent: STEPHEN J. BUTLER, ESQ., AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD LLP, ONE BRYANT PARK, NEW YORK, NY 10036
  • Context: Securitization

• 2020-07-08 (executed) / recorded 2020-07-08 — Reel 053654/0254

  • Conveyance: Release
  • Assignor: STARBOARD VALUE INTERMEDIATE FUND LP
  • Assignee: MOBILE ENHANCEMENT SOLUTIONS LLC, INNOVATIVE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES LLC, CELLULAR COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT LLC, TELECONFERENCE SYSTEMS LLC, PARTHENON UNIFIED MEMORY ARCHITECTURE LLC, LIFEPORT SCIENCES LLC, STINGRAY IP SOLUTIONS LLC, SUPER INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGIES LLC, R2 SOLUTIONS LLC, AMERICAN VEHICULAR SCIENCES LLC, LIMESTONE MEMORY SYSTEMS LLC, UNIFICATION TECHNOLOGIES LLC, SAINT LAWRENCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC, BONUTTI SKELETAL INNOVATIONS LLC, NEXUS DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES LLC, MONARCH NETWORKING SOLUTIONS LLC, ACACIA RESEARCH GROUP LLC
  • Correspondent: STEPHEN J. BUTLER, ESQ., AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD LLP, ONE BRYANT PARK, NEW YORK, NY 10036. This correspondent recurs.
  • Context: Release of security interest

• 2021-11-10 (executed) / recorded 2021-11-10 — Reel 054948/0995

  • Conveyance: Corrective Assignment
  • Assignor: SAINT LAWRENCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
  • Assignee: STARBOARD VALUE INTERMEDIATE FUND LP, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
  • Correspondent: STEPHEN J. BUTLER, ESQ., AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD LLP, ONE BRYANT PARK, NEW YORK, NY 10036. This correspondent recurs.
  • Context: Corrective assignment related to securitization

• 2021-11-10 (executed) / recorded 2021-11-10 — Reel 054948/1000

  • Conveyance: Corrective Assignment
  • Assignor: STARBOARD VALUE INTERMEDIATE FUND LP, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
  • Assignee: SAINT LAWRENCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
  • Correspondent: STEPHEN J. BUTLER, ESQ., AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD LLP, ONE BRYANT PARK, NEW YORK, NY 10036. This correspondent recurs.
  • Context: Corrective assignment related to securitization

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 6807524
    1999 : Filed by VoiceAge Corp
    2001 : Inventors assign to VoiceAge
    2004 : Issued
    2014 : Assigned to Saint Lawrence Comms LLC
    2020 : Security interest to Starboard Value
         : Release of security interest
    2021 : Corrective assignments

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present.

   • VoiceAge Corporation to SAINT LAWRENCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC (Reel 031023/0890, executed 2014-01-23 / recorded 2014-01-23). Saint Lawrence Communications LLC's name suggests a licensing-only entity, and it is linked to Acacia Research Group LLC in later security agreements, a known NPE.

2. Known asserter in the chain — present.

   • SAINT LAWRENCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC is listed as the current assignee on Google Patents. Saint Lawrence Communications LLC has been involved in litigation as indicated by Unified Patents and other sources. Furthermore, the security agreements in 2020 and 2021 list ACACIA RESEARCH GROUP LLC as an assignor, which is a widely recognized NPE (Reel 052853/0153 executed 2020-06-05 / recorded 2020-06-05).

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present.

   • STEPHEN J. BUTLER, ESQ., AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD LLP appears as the correspondent on multiple entries: Reel 052853/0153 (2020-06-05), Reel 053654/0254 (2020-07-08), Reel 054948/0995 (2021-11-10), and Reel 054948/1000 (2021-11-10).

4. Cascading transfers — not present.

   • There is a significant gap (over 24 months) between the assignment to Saint Lawrence Communications LLC in 2014 and the security agreements in 2020.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear.

   • The first assignment to an NPE (Saint Lawrence Communications LLC) was in January 2014. According to Google Patents, the earliest litigation cases for this patent family were filed in 2014 (e.g., 2:14-cv-00293 and 2:14-cv-01055 in the Texas Eastern District Court). This transfer is very close in time to the first litigation, suggesting it could be pre-litigation.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present.

   • No evidence of the original assignee, VoiceAge Corp, filing for bankruptcy and selling patents in proceedings.

7. Privateering — unclear.

   • While Saint Lawrence Communications LLC is an NPE, and the original assignor was an operating company, there is no direct evidence in the assignment records or Google Patents of a privateering arrangement where VoiceAge Corp (or its acquirers One Voice/Huawei) is actively using Saint Lawrence Communications LLC to assert patents on its behalf against competitors.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present.

   • The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is supported by the transfer of the patent from an operating company (VoiceAge Corp) to Saint Lawrence Communications LLC in 2014 (Reel 031023/0890), which exhibits characteristics of a shell entity. Furthermore, later security agreements directly involve Acacia Research Group LLC (Reel 052853/0153), a well-known Non-Practicing Entity. The recurrence of the same correspondent attorney, Stephen J. Butler, on multiple security and corrective assignments further reinforces the pattern of NPE activity. The timing of the transfer to Saint Lawrence Communications LLC being close to the first recorded litigations also points to an assertion-driven strategy.

USPTO Assignment Center search: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/